Editor's Review

KMPDU: This narrative that doctors are getting COVID-19 out of hospitals must stop. Doctors spend up to 12 and 19 hours in hospitals serving Kenyans, the Health CS cannot come and insult us that doctors are getting COVID-19 in bars. That is an insult to the profession and we will not take it lightly

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU) which is the umbrella body for doctors in Kenya has taken issue with a recent remark by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe who noted that doctors contract Covid-19 from bars.

Addressing the media on Tuesday morning, KMPDU Secretary General Chibanzi Mwachonda noted that Kagwe’s remark is an insult to doctors who work hard and risk their lives in order to saves others.

He underscored that doctors spend more than 12 hours in hospitals, and as such it is inappropriate to insinuate that they spend a significant amount of time in bars where they risk contracting the virus.


Dr Mwachonda noted that medics are not impressed by the remark adding that they will not take it lightly.

“This narrative that doctors are getting COVID-19 out of hospitals must stop. Doctors spend up to 12 and 19 hours in hospitals serving Kenyans, the Health CS cannot come and insult us that doctors are getting COVID-19 in bars. That is an insult to the profession and we will not take it lightly,” he said.

The doctors have vowed to go on strike if the government does not improve their working environment and provide them with required protective measures against the virus.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health headed by CS Kagwe has in the past maintained that doctors are well equipped to fight the virus, adding that those contracting it may be getting it from outside the hospital.